This invention relates to a flexible, stowable fire escape ladder adapted for storage in a box or in the wall structure of a building.
Currently, affixed fire escape ladders are well-known in multi-story, multi-unit structures. These structures can be commercial or residential in nature.
Less common are single unit residential structures with fixed fire escape ladders. In such instances, it has been known to provide portable or removable ladders, either rigid or flexible in nature. Examples of such ladders are found in U.S. Pat. No. 1,196,419 to Banyovits, U.S. Pat. No. 3,329,328 to Guldie, U.S. Pat. No. 3,809,181 to Steranic, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,012,549 to Adams, U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,105 to Jacobson, U.S. Pat. No. 6,029,771 to Keown, U.S. Pat. No. 6,129,178 to Shupp, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 6,135,239 to Martin, et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,445,589 to Longenecker. Some of these removable, flexible fire escape ladders comprise storage compartments affixed to an interior wall such as adjacent to or beneath a window. Some references include compartments stored within a wall cavity and opening to the inside of the room adjacent the window and some comprise storage compartments opening on an outside wall adjacent a wall opening such as a window.
For permanently installed stowable ladders, it is required that there be sufficient space underneath a window to stow the bulk of the ladder. In instances where the lower sill of the window is close to the floor, such a stowable ladder cannot be used or must be stowed on the exterior wall of the structure, such as in the Longenecker '589 reference. In either case, the compartment storing the ladder is secured to a portion of the building structure, such as with screws, while the ladder is attached to the storage compartment itself.
An object of the present invention is to provide a stowable ladder that is secured to the building structure itself to provide a stronger anchoring point for the ladder. Another object is to provide a stowable fire escape ladder that can be stowed inside a building structure even in those installations where the windowsill is otherwise too close to the floor to afford room for a fire escape ladder stowage compartment in the wall.